Fake ‘Diogo Jota Foundation’ Website Disappears After Raising Over £50,000 in Donations

A website claiming to represent a charitable foundation in the name of the late Liverpool forward Diogo Jota has disappeared after raising almost £50,000 in donations, with both the player’s family and Liverpool FC denying any connection to it.

The so-called “Diogo Jota Foundation” appeared online just three days after Jota’s death in July, promoting itself as an initiative to “empower youth, uplift communities, and bring the joy of football to all.” It carried the logos of Liverpool, Unicef, Allianz and the Portuguese Platform of Development NGOs, but three of those organisations have since denied any involvement. The site has now gone offline.

The foundation’s website had claimed to provide free football camps, scholarships, mentoring and community partnerships, while boasting of distributing 25,000 meals, sponsoring 300 schoolchildren and supporting 50 local organisations. It also said donations were only accepted in cryptocurrency, redirecting users to an external platform. However, NOWPayments, the payment provider named on the site, confirmed it had never processed any transactions for the project and cut off its services once suspicions were raised.

The Charity Commission confirmed the group had never applied for registration. Charities in England and Wales with an annual income above £5,000 are legally required to register.

Liverpool FC and Jota’s family publicly distanced themselves from the organisation on Thursday. The club reiterated its commitment to honouring the Portuguese forward through legitimate initiatives, including a grassroots football programme being launched by the LFC Foundation. Earlier this month, the club released a commemorative “Forever 20” T-shirt to raise funds for the project.

The “Diogo Jota Foundation” had described its mission as a way to honour the forward’s journey from Gondomar to the Premier League. Instead, the site has been exposed as a suspected fraud, leaving fans and donors questioning where the money has gone.